Surf Coast soccer boom shifts focus to local facilities

If you’ve spent any time around the Surf Coast’s sporting grounds lately, you’ve likely felt the unmistakable buzz as more kids, teens and adults lace up their boots and take to the pitch.

Soccer isn’t just growing nationally; it’s booming right here at home and the momentum is a sign that long term planning is now essential.

Football Victoria’s latest data shows Surf Coast FC now ranks second statewide for overall involvement, with the MiniRoos program – the introductory program for kids aged four to 11 – sitting at number one.

Female participation is ranked fourth, male participation third.

It’s a remarkable rise for a regional club and one that comes with responsibility.

The club has always been well supported by the local community and the Surf Coast Shire but we need to keep working together to plan how to fund and maintain our grounds and infrastructure so locals and visitors continue to enjoy our sport and we develop our talent.

Our junior girls program has just been accepted into Girls YPL2, the state’s newly established second-tier elite development soccer league for junior girls.

This is a huge step forward and a reward for the outstanding work Surf Coast FC has been doing in the female space, on and off the pitch.

The Surf Coast FC partner club skills and development programs delivered by Coerver Coaching Geelong have seen close to 3,000 kids and young players come through our Surf Coast operations since launching five years ago.

This is exciting growth but highlights pressure points.

Heavy rain this season caused drainage issues across local grounds, prompting local Australian rules football clubs to generously open their ovals to our soccer players.

It was a gesture that reinforced the region’s collaborative sporting culture – but also the need for more resilient infrastructure.

Investing in drainage and synthetic pitch resurfacing at Banyul Warri Fields is becoming essential because the surface is well past the end of its lifespan.

The Surf Coast Shire already supports a wide range of sports, with recent Victorian government funding flowing to new hockey pitches at Banyul Warri Fields and the next stage of the Wurdi Baierr Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

These are all popular and worthy sports and recreation facilities for our region.

I’m hopeful that local soccer can become part of future funding conversations. We need to look at how our local grounds and facilities could be part of future planning priorities.

The signs of growth are hard to ignore and the figures are resounding.

Football Australia’s 2025 national participation report shows 1.93m Australians played football across clubs, schools, futsal, social formats and inclusion programs.

Soccer continues to be the country’s most played team sport.

On the Surf Coast, that national trend feels personal.

It looks like packed Coerver sessions, parents cheering from the sidelines, teens training under floodlights and adults rediscovering the joy of the game.

It sounds like a community rallying around a sport that brings people together, which is the part of my job I love the most.

The challenge now is making sure the region’s facilities can keep pace with its passion and that the next generation of Surf Coast players has the spaces, support and pathways they deserve.